Cooling apparatus and electronic equipment

ABSTRACT

The rotation of axial-flow blades permits air entered through an inlet port to exit directly to outside of a case in the axial direction, and the rotation of centrifugal blades permits air entered through the inlet port to exit through a side surface outlet port to the outside of the case in the centrifugal direction. Accordingly, the amount of flow of air exiting from inside of the case can be increased so that the amount of heat dissipation is increased. It is therefore able to provide a cooling apparatus and electronic equipment mounting the cooling apparatus with improved cooling efficiency while achieving a small thickness.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present document is based on Japanese Priority DocumentJP2003-323318, filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Sep. 16, 2003, theentire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for cooling such aselectronic equipment, and to electronic equipment mounting the same.

2. Description of Related Art

As means for cooling an electronic component that generates heat, suchas a central processing unit (CPU) mounted on a computer, a blower witha fan and a heat pipe have hitherto been used. There is also anapparatus-made by combining such a blower and such a heat pipe (forexample, see a patent document 1: Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2003-92483 (Paragraphs [0026] and [0027], FIG. 2, FIG. 4and FIG. 5)).

In the apparatus, a fan unit 38 is disposed such that air is sent tofins 31 connected to a radiating part side of a heat pipe 29.Specifically, intake ports 42 and 47 are disposed at a fan case 39 ofthe fan unit 38 and a printed circuit board 19, respectively, and a wallsurrounding the fan is formed by both of the fan case 39 and the printedcircuit board 19. External air is introduced through both of the intakeports 42 and 47, and the air is fed to the fins 31 arranged in thecentrifugal direction. By this construction, the wiring and the like ofthe printed circuit board 19 are also cooled and air intake from bothdirections is performed to increase cooling efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Meanwhile, in the recent years, the heating value generated from aheat-generating element is on the increase due to higher clock inoperation frequency. Therefore, under this circumstance, coolingprocessing has a limitation even if air is taken from both directions bythe fan, as in the invention described in the above-mentioned patentdocument 1. In order to increase cooling efficiency, to enlarge aradiating plate of a fin and to increase the number thereof areunsuitable for thinning the apparatus because it is necessary toconserve space for installing the fins. Further, not only to combine aheat pipe and a fan unit, it is also desirable, for example, that theposition at which the heat pipe is disposed relative to the fan unit isoptimized in terms of heat efficiency.

In view of the foregoing circumstances, this invention provides acooling apparatus capable of minimizing thickness and improving coolingefficiency, and also electronic equipment mounting the same.

In particular, this invention provides a cooling apparatus that is ableto improve cooling efficiency by disposing a heat transporting body suchas a heat pipe at an optimum position, without increasing a radiatorplate, and provides electronic equipment mounting the same.

A cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes: afan having axial-flow blades and centrifugal blades; a case containingthe fan rotatably, and having an inlet port for permitting air to enterin an axial direction of rotation from outside by a rotary action of theaxial-flow blades under the rotation of the fan, a first outlet port,which is disposed opposite to the inlet port, for permitting the airentered through the inlet port to exit to the outside in the axialdirection, and a second outlet port for permitting the air enteredthrough the inlet port to exit to the outside in the centrifugaldirection under a rotary action of centrifugal blades; and a drivingpart for driving the fan to rotate.

In this invention it is arranged to permit the air entered through theinlet port to exit directly through the first outlet port to the outsideof the case in the axial direction under the rotation of the axial-flowblades, and permit the air entered through the inlet port to exitthrough the second outlet port to the outside of the case in thecentrifugal direction under the rotation of the centrifugal blades.Therefore, the amount of flow of air exiting from the inside of the casecan be increased than has hitherto been possible. This enables toincrease the amount of heat dissipation and improve cooling efficiency.In addition, the cooling apparatus can be minimized in thickness becausethere is no need to enlarge a radiator plate and increase the numberthereof, on the basis of an increase in the heating value due to aheat-generating element.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is furtherprovided a radiator plate disposed at least at one of the first outletport and the second outlet port. This enables to further improve coolingefficiency. In this invention, the radiator plate may be minimized so asto have a size of meeting the heating value of a heat-generatingelement, for example. Alternatively, there may be provided a radiatorplate disposed integrally with the first outlet port and the secondoutlet port. Other embodiments of the present invention are similar tothis. In the case of disposing a radiator plate on both of the firstoutlet port and the second outlet port, the heat dissipation area can beincreased than would hitherto been possible, thereby increasing coolingefficiency.

According to other embodiment of the present invention, there is furtherprovided a heat transporting body which has an endothermic part forabsorbing heat by vaporizing working fluid and a radiating part fordissipating heat by condensing the working fluid, and in which theradiating part is disposed so as to make contact with the radiatorplate. Thereby, cooling efficiency can be further improved than the caseof disposing only the radiator plate. The heat transporting body may beone having the function of so-called heat pipe, and the shape of theheat transporting body is not limited to, for example, a general pipeshape, it may be of a plate shape, for example.

According to other embodiment of the present invention, the case is of arectangular parallelopiped shape, and the second outlet port has a firstside surface outlet port disposed at a first side surface of the caseand a second side surface outlet port disposed at a second side surface,which is substantially orthogonal to the first side surface, and thereis further provided a first radiator plate disposed at the first sidesurface outlet port and a second radiator plate disposed at the secondside surface outlet port. In the present invention, the two outlet portsare disposed in the centrifugal direction, and the radiator plates aredisposed at the two outlet ports, respectively, thereby enabling tofurther increase cooling efficiency.

According to other embodiment of the present invention, there is furtherprovided a third radiator plate disposed integrally with the first orthe second radiator plate. The term “integrally” as used here denotesthat the second radiator plate and the third radiator plate arephysically connected to each other. Alternatively, the first or secondradiator plate and the third radiator plate may be formed integrally.

According to other embodiment of the present invention, the secondradiator plate is formed to have a smaller surface area than that of thefirst radiator plate, and there is further provided a heat transportingbody which has an endothermic part for absorbing heat by vaporizingworking fluid and a radiating part for dissipating heat by condensingthe working fluid, and the heat transporting body is disposed such thatthe radiating part contacts with the radiator plate, and a portioncloser to the endothermic part than the radiating part is disposed so asto make contact with the second radiator plate. In this invention, theportion on closer to the endothermic part than the radiating partdenotes any portion between the radiating part and the endothermic part.In this invention, the radiator plates having different surface areasare disposed in response to the heat dissipation amount that will varydepending on portions of the heat transporting body. This enables tooptimize cooling efficiency. Especially in this invention, it isconstructed such that the surface area of the second radiator platemaking contact with the endothermic part side is smaller than thesurface area of the first radiator plate making contact with theradiating part side. This enables to increase cooling efficiency, whileminimizing the size of the second radiator plate.

Electronic equipment in accordance with the present invention mounts acooling apparatus includes: a fan having axial-flow blades andcentrifugal blades; a case containing the fan rotatably, and having aninlet port for permitting air to enter in an axial direction fromoutside by a rotary action of the axial-flow blades under rotation ofthe fan, a first outlet port, which is disposed opposite to the inletport, for permitting the air entered through the inlet port to exit tothe outside in the axial direction, and a second outlet port forpermitting the air entered through the inlet port to exit to the outsidein the centrifugal direction under the rotary action of the centrifugalblades; and a driving part to drive the fan to rotate.

In this invention, the amount of flow of air exiting from the inside ofthe case can be increased than has hitherto been possible. This enablesto increase the amount of heat dissipation and improve coolingefficiency. In addition, the cooling apparatus can be minimized inthickness because there is no need to enlarge the radiator plate andincrease the number thereof, on the basis of an increase in the heatingvalue due to a heat-generating element. This also enables to minimizethe size or the thickness of electronic equipment.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, it is able to minimizethe thickness of the cooling apparatus and also increase coolingefficiency thereof. In particular, cooling efficiency can be increased,without increasing the size of radiator plate and the heat transportingbody such as a heat pipe can be arranged at an optimum position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus according tothe first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear surface side of the coolingapparatus shown in FIG. 1.;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the cooling apparatus shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a fan shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus according tothe second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the rear surface side of the coolingapparatus shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus according tothe third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus according tothe fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the rear surface side of the coolingdevice shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a fan shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus according tothe fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a side view of the cooling apparatus shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a laptop type computer mounting acooling apparatus according to the each embodiment; and

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a form that a cover member isprovided on the rear surface side of a case.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described byreferring to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus in accordancewith a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear surface side of the coolingapparatus. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the cooling apparatus.

A cooling apparatus 10 is constructed with a fan 12 contained within acase 11. An air inlet port 11 c is opened in a surface 11 a of the case11, and a first outlet port 11 d is opened in a rear surface 11 b.Further, a side surface outlet port 11 e as a second outlet port isopened in a side surface of the case 11.

As shown in FIG. 4, the fan 12 is constituted by an axial body 12 c, aplurality of axial-flow blades 12 a formed around the axial body 12 c,and centrifugal blades 12 b formed around these axial-flow blades 12 a.The axial body 12 c contains a motor as a driving part. The motor has astator 14, a rotator, a coil, a magnet, a bearing, and the like (notshown). The stator 14 is fixed to a fixing member 13 shown in FIG. 2,and the fixing member 13 is attached to the rear surface 11 b of thecase 11 so that the fan 12 is rotatably contained within the case 11.The axial direction of rotation of the fan 12 is the Z direction, andthe centrifugal direction is the X direction and the Y direction in FIG.1 to FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the longitudinal and lateral lengths “u” and “v” ofthe case 11 are, for example, 60 mm and 60 mm, respectively. As shown inFIG. 3, the thickness “s” of the fan 12 is, for example, 4 mm to 6 mm.The height “t” of the case 11 is, for example, 8 mm to 10 mm.

The operation of the cooling apparatus 10 so constructed will bedescribed. When the power is applied to the fan 12, it rotates at apredetermined speed, for example. Under the rotation of the fan 12, theaction of the axial-flow blades 12 a permits air to enter the insidethrough the inlet port 11 c from the outside of the case 11, and permitsthe air to directly exit through the first outlet port 11 d in theZ-axis direction (the axial-flow direction). In addition, under therotation of the fan 12, the action of the centrifugal blades 12 bpermits the air entered through the aforesaid inlet port 11 c to exitthrough the side surface outlet port 11 e in the Y direction (thecentrifugal direction).

Thus, in the embodiment, the rotation of the axial-flow blades 12 apermits the air entered through the inlet port 11 c to exit directly inthe axial direction to the outside of the case 11, and the rotation ofthe centrifugal blades 12 b permits the air entered through the inletport 11 c to exit through the side surface outlet port 11 e in thecentrifugal direction to the outside of the case 11. Thereby, the amountof flow of air exiting from the inside of the case 11 can be increasedthan has hitherto been possible. This enables to increase the amount ofheat dissipation and improve cooling efficiency. Especially in thisembodiment, although the opening area of the side surface outlet port 11e is smaller than that of the conventional case, by minimizing thethickness of the fan 12 and the case 11, it is able to secure the heatdissipation area by enlarging the case 11 in the centrifugal directionto increase the opening area of the first outlet port 11 d. In otherwords, even if the case 11 is thinned, the first outlet port 11 d canperform more heat dissipation, it is therefore able to improve coolingefficiency, while achieving a small thickness.

In addition, the cooling apparatus 10 can be minimized in thicknessbecause there is no need to enlarge the radiator plate and increase thenumber thereof, on the basis of an increase in the heating value due toa heat-generating element (not shown).

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus in accordancewith a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is aperspective view of the rear surface side thereof.

A cooling apparatus 20 of this embodiment is constructed by attachingfins 22 composed of metal such as copper and aluminum to the coolingapparatus 10 in accordance with the first embodiment. The radiating fins22 are disposed so as to extend through a side surface outlet port 11 eto a rear surface 11 b. Thereby, it is arranged to release the heat ofair exiting through the side surface outlet port 11 e of a case 11, andalso release the heat of air exiting through a first outlet port 11 d.

In FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, although the radiating fins 22 are disposedintegrally with the side surface outlet port 11 e and the first outletport 11 d, a fin member may be disposed physically separately (with useof two members) between the side outlet port 11 e and the first outletport 11 d. The term “integrally” as used here indicates the case ofbeing connected physically, or the case of being formed integrally.

In FIG. 5, the height “w” of the radiating fins 22 is, for example, 10mm to 12 mm. The pitch “p” of the fins 22 is 2 mm, for example. Theheight “q” of the radiating fins 22 from the rear surface 11 b of thecase 11 is 5 mm, for example.

In accordance with this embodiment, the radiating fins 22 are disposedat the first outlet port 11 d and the side surface outlet port 11 e,respectively, it is able to further increase cooling efficiency than thecooling apparatus 10 in accordance with the foregoing first embodiment.In particular, although the two outlet ports are disposed in thecentrifugal direction and respective fins 22 are disposed at theseoutlet ports in the conventional fan unit, the radiating fins 22 aredisposed throughout the entire rear surface 11 b of the case 11 in thisembodiment, thereby obtaining the heat dissipation area not less thantwo times greater than the aforesaid conventional fan unit.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus in accordancewith a third embodiment of the present invention. A case 31 of a coolingapparatus 30 of this embodiment has at a side surface thereof a firstside surface outlet port 31 e and a second side surface outlet port 31f. First radiating fins 32 and second radiating fins 33 are disposed atthese outlet ports 31 e and 31 f, respectively. As the first radiatingfins 32, there are used, for example, similar to the radiating fins 22shown in FIG. 5. On the other hand, the second radiating fins 33 are notdisposed on the rear surface 31 b side, but disposed only on the sidesurface. Further, like the foregoing first and second embodiments, anoutlet port (not shown) is also disposed on the rear surface 31 b sideof the case 31.

In this embodiment it is arranged to permit air to exit from the case 31in the axial direction, and permit air to exit from the case 31 in twodirections, the X direction and the Y direction, in the centrifugaldirection. This enables to further increase the heat dissipation areathereby to further increase cooling efficiency. FIG. 8 is a perspectiveview showing a cooling apparatus in accordance with a fourth embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the rearsurface side of this cooling apparatus, and FIG. 10 is a sectional viewthereof.

A cooling apparatus 40 in accordance with this embodiment has within acase 41 a fan 42 that is different in shape and the like, in place ofthe fan 12 in accordance with the foregoing first, second and thirdembodiments. As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10, a fitting part 41 f of thefan 42 is disposed at a surface 41 a of the case 41, and, for example, astator 44 of a motor of the fan 42 is attached to the fitting part 41 fso as to contain the fan 42 within the case 41. The fan 42 has anaxial-flow blade 42 a, a centrifugal blade 42 b, and an axial body 42 c.As shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the axial-flow blade 42 a is arrangedat a position that is offset axially (the Z direction) than the positionof the axial-flow blade 12 a of the aforesaid fan 12 (see FIG. 3 and thelike). This offset value “r” is, for example, 1 mm to 5 mm. The amountof air axially entering and exiting can be adjusted to a desired amountby designing while changing the offset value so suitably. In the case ofthis embodiment, offsetting in this manner enables to increase theamount of flow of the axial air, thereby enabling to efficiently performcooling processing.

The direction of the offset is not limited to the axial direction towardthe rear surface 41 b side of the case 41 as in this embodiment, but itmay be the axial direction toward the surface 41 a side.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a cooling apparatus 50 inaccordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 13is a side view thereof.

The cooling apparatus 50 of this embodiment is obtained by addingelements such as a heat pipe 58, a heat spreader 56 to the coolingapparatus 30 in accordance with the foregoing third embodiment (see FIG.7). A heat-generating element 57 is attached so as to contact the rearside of the heat spreader 56, and the heat spreader 56 is attached so asto contact with the vicinity of an endothermic part 58 a of the heatpipe 58. Thereby, it is arranged that the heat generated from theheat-generating element 57 is diffused at the heat spreader 56 and theheat pipe 58 absorbs and releases the diffused heat.

The heat pipe 58 is of substantially an L shape, for example, anddisposed so as to make contact with first radiating fins 52 disposed ata first side surface outlet port 51 e and second radiating fins 53disposed at a second side surface outlet port 51 f. More specifically, aradiating part 58 b of the heat pipe 58 makes contact with the firstradiating fins 52, and the side closer to the endothermic part 58 a ofthe heat pipe 58 than the radiating part 58 b, namely a portion betweenthe radiating part 58 b and the endothermic part 58 a makes contact withthe second radiating fins 53. Especially, in this embodiment it isconstructed such that the surface areas of the second radiating fins 53in contact with the endothermic part 58 a side is smaller than thesurface areas of the first radiating fins 52 in contact with theendothermic part 58 b side. The amount of heat dissipation is themaximum at the radiating part 58 b of the heat pipe 58, and the amountof heat dissipation is decreased toward the endothermic part 58 a side,whereas the amount of endothermic is increased. Thus, the sizes of theradiating fins 52 and 53 are made different from each other in responseto the amount of heat dissipation that differs depending on portions ofthe heat pipe 58. This enables to increase cooling efficiency, whileachieving the miniaturization by minimizing the size of the secondradiating fins 53.

Thus, in this embodiment the radiator plates having different surfaceareas are disposed in response to the amount of heat dissipation thatdiffers depending on portions of the heat pipe 58. Therefore, withoutlimiting to having the surface areas of the radiating fins 52 and 53shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 be different from each other, the size ofthe surface area of the radiating fins may be varied gradually orstepwise, depending on the portion of the heat pipe 58.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a laptop computer as an example ofelectronic equipment mounting the foregoing cooling apparatus 10, 20,30, 40, or 50. A computer 5 is constituted by, for example, a liquidcrystal monitor part 4 and a body part 6. For example, a keyboard unit 3and the like are disposed at the body part 6. An opening 7 is formed ina side surface of a casing 8 of the body part 6. The cooling apparatus10 (or 20, 30, 40, 50) is disposed, for example, under the keyboard unit3, and is arranged such that the opening 7 is opposed to the outlet port11 e of the side surface of the cooling apparatus 10 (or the second sidesurface outlet port 31 f, 51 f, and the like). An opening (not shown) isalso formed on the bottom surface side of the casing 8, and the coolingapparatus 10 (or 20, 30, 40, 50) is arranged such that the opening onthat bottom surface is opposed to the outlet port 11 d (or 41 d or thelike) on the rear surface side of the case. By arranging so, the heatwithin the casing 8, or the heat generated from the heat-generatingelement and the like contained in the cashing 8 can be released from thebottom surface and the side surface of the casing 8, thus enabling toefficiently perform cooling processing.

In addition, depending on the form of the computer 5, there may bedisposed on the rear surface 11 b side of the case 11 or the like, asshown in FIG. 15, a cover member 65 that permits the escape of the airexiting through the outlet port 11 d along the longitudinal direction ofthe radiating fins 32 and 52 (for example, the Y direction in thefigure). The cover member 65 has an opening part 65 a, and the airexiting through the outlet port 11 d on the rear surface may be takeninto the cover member 65 via the opening part 65 a. By thisconstruction, if an opening is formed only at the side surface of thecashing 8 of the computer 5, it is able to have air to exit toward theopening at the side surface. The cooling apparatus can be arrangedsuitably in response to the computers having different forms.

The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, butvarious modifications can be made.

For example, although in the respective embodiments the shapes of thecase 11, 31, 41, and 51 are substantially rectangular parallelopipedshape, that is, a rectangular shape when viewed from the axial directionof the fan, they may be polygon or round when viewed from the axialdirection. Further, the number of the outlet port 11 e and the like atthe side surface of the case 11 and the like may be three or more.

Additionally, the orientation in the longitudinal direction of theradiating fins 22, 32, 33, 52, and 53 is not limited to the foregoingrespective embodiments, but they can be arranged in an optimumorientation to the shape of the case.

In an alternative, all of the radiating fins 32 and 33 may be formedintegrally by disposing the radiating fins 33 shown in FIG. 7 so as toextend to the rear surface 31 b side of the case 31. In addition, thecase and the radiating fins may be integral with each other in theforegoing respective embodiments.

Additionally, the heat pipe 58 is not limited to the forms shown in FIG.12 and FIG. 13. For example, a heat transporting body as a heat pipe maybe disposed so as to cover substantially the entire surface of the rearsurface side of the case 51. The heat transporting body in this case maybe a flat plate shape. Further, this case may employ the construction ofcombining this heat transporting body and the cooling apparatus shown inFIG. 15. In other words, part or all of the heat transporting bodycovering substantially the entire surface of the rear surface side ofthe case can be arranged in the inside of the cover member 65 to theextent that air can exit in the cover member 65.

Furthermore, although the laptop computer is taken as example ofelectronic equipment, without limiting to this, it may be a digitalcamera, a digital video camera, or other personal digital assistance(PDA). In addition, without limiting to PDAs, it may be desktopequipment.

1-6. (canceled)
 7. A cooling apparatus comprising: a fan havingaxial-flow blades and centrifugal blades; a case containing said fanrotatably, and having an inlet port for permitting air to enter in anaxial direction of rotation from outside by a rotary action of saidaxial-flow blades under rotation of said fan, a first outlet port, whichis disposed opposite to said inlet port, for permitting air enteredthrough said inlet port to exit to said outside in said axial direction,and a second outlet port for permitting air entered through said inletport to exit to said outside in a centrifugal direction under a rotaryaction of said centrifugal blades; a driving part for driving said fanto rotate; and a radiator structure provided at at least one of saidfirst outlet port or said second outlet port.
 8. Electronic equipmenthaving a cooling apparatus: wherein said cooling apparatus is comprisedof: a fan having axial-flow blades and centrifugal blades; a casecontaining said fan rotatably, and having an inlet port for permittingair to enter in an axial direction of rotation from outside by a rotaryaction of said axial-flow blades under rotation of said fan, a firstoutlet port, which is disposed opposite to said inlet port, forpermitting air entered through said inlet port to exit to said outsidein said axial direction, and a second outlet port for permitting airentered through said inlet port to exit to said outside in a centrifugaldirection under a rotary action of said centrifugal blades; a drivingpart for driving said fan to rotate; and a radiator structure providedat at least one of said first outlet port or said second outlet port.